The top five teams in each of the eight zones qualified for the divisional play-in rounds, broken up into Northern and Southern divisions. Waterbury, Oakville and Cheshire are all in the Southern Division, with Southington in the Northern.

Four rounds of divisional play-in games will begin today and run through Tuesday. The four winners from the North will advance to Torrington's Fuessenich Park for a double-elimination tournament beginning July 27. The South's four winners will advance to Stamford's Cubeta Stadium.

The Northern and Southern champions will then meet in Stamford in a best-of-three series for the state championship. The opener would be Aug. 2 at 6:30 p.m. at Cubeta, followed by an 11 a.m. game Aug. 3. If a third game is necessary, the two teams would play at 2:30 p.m., with a rain date for Aug. 4.

The Connecticut winner will advance to the Northeast Regional, beginning Aug. 8 at Palmer Field in Middletown. The World

See LEGION, Page 8B

Series is slatred for Shelby, N.C., on Aug. 16-20 and will be shown on the web at www.Espn3.com.

In the past years, the zone winners would automatically head to a 12-team, double-elimination state tournament.

The change doesn't bother Waterbury coach Joe Eltman, who feels his team finished the regular season strong and is capable of advancing deep in the tournament.

After losing last Sunday's game with Oakville, Waterbury won back-to-back games from Naugatuck and Monroe. Eltman gave his players Thursday off, but they were back at it with a Friday night practice at Waterville Park.

"I like our chances;" said Eltman. "I feel coming out of Zone 5, we are tournament-tested. We have three No. 1-type of pitchers (Evan DeVico, Patrick Robinson and Jerry Ayala). But going from seven-inning to nine-inning games in the tournament, all hands are on deck and we'll need to rely on Joel Acosta and Tom Rinaldi, too. We had only one or two extra-inning games this year. We have to plan on keeping our pitch counts down and pitch to contact."

Besides the pitching, Eltman likes the defensive play from the middle of the field with Acosta at shortstop, second baseman Kyle Bonicki, center fielder Angel Torres and catcher Alex Rodriguez.

"Back when we last won the zone in 2005, that was probably the most talent we had in my 15 years coaching," said Eltman. "In 2009, we went the deepest in the tournament, losing in extra innings to Milford in the semifinal round. This year, we are very experienced. What I tell the kids is that we need to make plays and execute things like getting bunts down and not extending innings in the field with errors.

"Executing in situations builds confidence and builds momentum early in a tournament," added Eltman. "The teams that make the most mistakes generally lose."

Here are the play-in game scenarios involving local teams:

Southern Division: Today's Guilford-Danbury winner plays at East Haven on Sunday. The winner of that game plays Oakville on Monday at 3:30 p.m. That winner would play at Cheshire on Tuesday. Today's Wilton-Shelton winner plays at Bethel on Sunday. The winner of that game plays Greenwich on Monday. That winner meets Waterbury on Tuesday at a time to be determined at Bucks Hill Park in Waterbury.

Northern Division: Today's Unionville-South Windsor winner will play Willimantic on Sunday. The winner of that game plays Southington on Monday at 1 p.m. The winner of that game plays Rocky Hill-Cromwell-Portland on Tuesday.

For more information, visit the state American Legion website at www.ctlegionbball.com and click on Senior Tournament link.

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